Re: [HACKERS] LZ compressing data type

Philip Warner <pjw@rhyme.com.au> writes:
> At 23:28 17/11/99 -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
>> Jan's code falls in the substantially different
>> LZ77 class.  There could be problematic patents out there, but Unisys'
>> is certainly not one.

> Is this a legal opinion, or a personal one?

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe I qualify as an expert witness when
it comes to compression questions.  It is not a matter of opinion
whether Jan's code is LZ77 or LZ78, nor is it a matter of opinion
which class Unisys has claims on a small piece of.

> The fear is not whether one wins court cases, but whether you can afford to
> fight them.

There are patents related to databases.  Shall we therefore shut down
Postgres development and run screaming for the hills?  If we let
ourselves be intimidated by irrelevant patents, the Microsofts and
Unisyses will win without a fight.
        regards, tom lane